Southern Highlands is getting the kind of place its residents usually drive to the Strip for. Hawthorne Craft Bar & Kitchen opens Thursday, Nov. 12, at 10620 Dean Martin Drive, Suite 100, in the KAKTUSlife plaza, and the pitch is simple: an elevated sports bar, built by a Strip veteran, dropped into a neighborhood that has been adding restaurants as fast as it adds rooftops.
The name behind it is restaurateur Robert Parekh, opening Hawthorne with partners. What Now Las Vegas reported that Parekh brings more than 20 years in food and beverage, including work at Fontainebleau, the TAP and Trustworthy Brewing. Hawthorne's own site puts it another way: after overseeing some of the most successful sports bar concepts on the Las Vegas Strip, Parekh decided it was time to open his own place. The Review-Journal reported his idea was to bring some of the energy of a night out closer to home for south valley residents.
A Strip Sports-Bar Hand Moves Into the Neighborhood
That background is the fresh part of this opening. Hawthorne is not a casino concept testing a locals outpost, and it is not a first-timer guessing at game day. It is a purpose-built neighborhood hangout from an operator whose career ran through Strip sports bars, now aimed at the people who live around Dean Martin Drive and Southern Highlands. The opening was originally targeted for mid-October, so the Nov. 12 date is the finish line of a short, public delay, not a soft maybe.
The room is designed around watching, listening and lingering: lots of TVs, what the restaurant calls mind-blowing audio visual enhancements, live entertainment and exemplary service, all wrapped around craft cocktails, craft beer and food the kitchen wants you craving on repeat.
What Is on the Table
Earlier plans described in reporting called for scratch-made pub fare and modern American dishes with international flavors. Two plates tell the whole story:
- Fish and chips, the classic sports-bar test, made from scratch
- Kerala-spiced fried chicken, a South Indian spice profile you do not expect next to the game-day standards
The weekly calendar reaches past sports, too. Hawthorne's own site promises happy hour specials, karaoke, weekly team trivia, singles events and live music ranging from solo artists to three-piece bands. In other words, there is a reason to walk in on a Tuesday, not just on a Sunday when the TVs carry the day.
How to Do Opening Day Right
- Mark Thursday, Nov. 12 and set the address before you go: 10620 Dean Martin Drive, Suite 100, Las Vegas, NV 89141.
- Check Hawthorne's own channels first. Hours had not been announced in the Nov. 5 reporting, so confirm the opening-day hours on the restaurant's site or social pages before you drive over.
- Order the split personality: one classic, one curveball. Fish and chips plus the Kerala-spiced fried chicken shows you both sides of this kitchen in a single visit.
- Pick a second night now. Trivia, karaoke and live music nights are where a neighborhood bar proves it is really a neighborhood bar.
South valley locals have watched their dining map fill in for years. On Nov. 12, it gets the piece that was missing: a proper night out, minutes from home.
